Brand marketing: brand positioning skills!

In the recently popular TV series "Don't Think Too Much If You Love Me", there is a scene where the second female lead Yang Liya created a "road party" project by herself. The second male lead Mo Heng, played by Pan Yueming, asked what "road party" specifically is. Yang Liya replied that it is a mobile phone APP software that facilitates travelers to find like-minded travel partners and integrates making friends and traveling. In fact, what Yang Liya was explaining to Mo Heng was an introduction to the brand positioning of "Lupa".

Partners who work in operations know that no matter whether it is a product or a platform, it needs a positioning. It is like a magic needle that stabilizes the sea, or like the center of a circle. Only when the positioning is accurate can a circle be drawn. Today, let’s discuss the issue of brand positioning:

Why is brand positioning necessary?

What is the specific concept of brand positioning?

What are the decision-making steps in brand positioning?

What are the strategic methods for brand positioning?

What does brand repositioning mean?

We will explore these issues one by one.

1. Why is brand positioning necessary?

We say that existence is reasonable, and the generation of brand positioning is actually based on demand.

1. Consumer demand

In order to acquire consumers and achieve conversion rates, consumers’ thinking patterns are the prerequisite for brand positioning. For example, consumers can only accept limited information, so the brand name must sound nice; consumers prefer simplicity over complexity, so the product categories must be clear; consumers lack a sense of security and follow others, so positioning research must focus on the key points... Brand positioning is based on the minds of consumers.

2. Market demand

Even good wine needs no bush. Brand positioning is the foundation of brand integrated marketing communication. Any communication activities aimed at expanding brand awareness must be carried out under the norms of brand positioning strategy. Only a marketing strategy centered on brand positioning can leave a holistic, consistent and unique brand impression in the minds of target consumers.

In addition, brand positioning helps the target audience to remember the message conveyed by the brand. When we were memorizing a text when we were young, our teachers often taught us to understand its meaning and remember its words. The meaning is that the effect will be better if we memorize it based on understanding. Brand positioning is that “meaning” that can better reach the target audience.

The dual demands of consumers and the market determine the necessity of brand positioning, which is like a direction that makes it possible for all forces to converge.

2. What is the specific concept of brand positioning?

To do brand positioning, you must first understand its concept. The theory of brand positioning comes from the strategic positioning first created by Jack Trout, the "father of positioning" and the world's top marketing master.

Brand positioning is a strategic behavior in which an enterprise strives to find and discover the unique personality (advantage) of its own brand on the basis of market positioning and product positioning, and to match this advantage with the blank spots in the minds of target consumers, thereby determining the unique position of brand products in the minds of target consumers and enabling the brand to establish strong associations and unique impressions in the minds of target consumers.

Simply put, it means to determine an appropriate market position for a specific brand so that the product occupies a special position in the hearts of consumers. When a certain need suddenly arises, such as fear of getting angry, we will think of Wanglaoji; when it comes to speed, we will think of Ferrari; when we suddenly feel thirsty in the hot summer, we will think of a can of ice cola that is cool and refreshing.

Brand positioning is not just an advertising slogan. It focuses on prying open the minds of target consumer groups based on analyzing their values, spiritual and material needs, and occupying a favorable market competitive position in their minds to achieve recognition and choice of the brand by the target consumer groups. Brand positioning is not the same as product differentiation. It is achieved through tangible factors such as product price, performance, quality, structure, packaging, style, and appearance. Brand positioning is to achieve brand differentiation.

3. What are the strategic decision-making steps for brand positioning?

Now that you understand the concept of brand positioning and know that you need to be competition-oriented, the next step is to make strategic decisions. What is this process like and what is the thinking process like? Generally speaking, it is divided into three steps: selecting the target market, identifying competitive characteristics, and analyzing the similarities and differences of brands.

1. Choose your target market

Target market refers to market segmentation. The concept of market segmentation was proposed by American marketing expert Wendell R. Smith in 1956. It means that companies divide customers in the market into several customer groups according to certain standards. Each customer group constitutes a sub-market, and there are obvious differences in demand between different sub-markets.

In the TV series "Don't Think Too Much If You Love Me", Yang Liya's target market is a group of travel friends who can't find companions, rather than all travel enthusiasts.

There is a famous example. Each of us needs washing products, and there are various kinds of washing powder on the market. People have different requirements for washing powder: cheap, able to bleach, fresh smell, with or without foam, and more foam, etc. Every user may have similar requirements, but different preferences, which also makes the entire laundry detergent market actually composed of a number of different market segments. Procter & Gamble has developed and produced nine brands of laundry detergent based on different customer needs. By capturing market share through market segmentation, we can become a world-class company.

2. Identify competition

Brand positioning is competition-oriented. In the process of competitive analysis, many factors need to be considered, including the various resources available to the company, the company's operating capabilities, the operating trends of competitors or potential competitors, etc., in order to determine which market segment consumers can be served to obtain the most ideal benefits for the company.

Generally speaking, competition between brands may not always be entangled at the attribute level, but is more reflected at the level of interests. For example, Mercedes-Benz’s competitors are not only similar products (such as BMW and Porsche), but may also form a competitive relationship with other durable goods (such as villas, etc.). Just like in the Internet era, Douyin’s competitors are not just Kuaishou, but all platforms that occupy users’ time.

3. Association of similarities and differences

The so-called differences and similarities, as the name suggests, are the similarities and differences compared with other brands.

Brand commonalities refer to those brand associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may actually be shared with other products. It is generally divided into category commonality associations and competitive commonality associations. The former refers to those brand associations that consumers believe any reasonable and trustworthy brand must have in a specific product category. Most of these associations point to the material attributes of the branded goods. For example, beverages have the function of quenching thirst, and detergents have the function of cleaning. The latter means that a brand can tie with its competitors in areas where its competitors are trying to establish advantages, and can still gain advantages in other areas, thus making the brand position stable and undefeated. For example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi may be tied in terms of function and taste, but Coca-Cola is better in advertising creativity and marketing.

Brand differentiation is the consumer's positive evaluation of the attributes and benefits associated with the brand and the belief that competing brands cannot achieve the same degree. The establishment of brand differentiation points can emphasize the performance attributes of the product, such as the vivo brand shaping the ordinary camera function into a differentiation point, and the "light up your beauty" slogan is remembered by the public; or performance benefits, such as the Tide brand emphasizes that with Tide, there are no stains; it can also emphasize the spiritual attributes of the product, such as the French Hermès emphasizes luxury and status, so that consumers can form a deep brand association.

Determine the approximate brand positioning decision by selecting the target market, identifying competition and associating similarities and differences.

4. What are the tactical and strategic methods for brand positioning?

With the decision-making steps, the next step is the tactical methodology, which can be divided into product positioning strategy, target market positioning strategy, competitive positioning strategy and brand identification strategy.

1. Product positioning strategy

The product positioning strategy is based on the material attributes of branded goods, and selects and determines the brand positioning based on the functional attributes, appearance attributes, and price attributes of branded goods.

Functional attributes: meet the basic needs of consumers at the physiological level. It has unique functions, can bring special benefits to consumers and meet their special needs, and has obvious differences and competitive advantages. Just like the camera function of Huawei mobile phones is particularly powerful, comparable to a camera, and is sought after by many consumers.

Appearance attributes: It is the most easily recognizable feature for consumers, commonly known as "love at first sight", and is an important basis for consumers to recognize and accept a certain brand of goods. Therefore, if the appearance of the product is used as the basis for brand positioning, ideal marketing and communication effects can also be achieved. For example, a chewing gum product created a "mouth-shaped" outer packaging, which not only used red lips but also added an interesting mustache, which is eye-catching.

Price attribute: simply and clearly convey to target consumers whether the brand product is high-end or low-end. High-end represents higher social status and economic strength; low-end represents the masses, good quality and low price. Just like Apple and Xiaomi phones, the brand positioning is completely different.

2. Target market positioning strategy

It means that enterprises carry out brand positioning based on consumer needs. The content of consideration includes consumer usage characteristics, consumer usage occasions and time, consumer purchasing purposes and consumer lifestyle, etc.

Positioning is based on consumer usage characteristics, that is, what problems the brand products can solve for target consumers and what benefits they can bring. For example, to solve the problem of transportation, there are various car brands; to solve the problem of social interaction, there are platforms such as WeChat. From the perspective of consumers' usage occasions and time positioning, such as drinking Wanglaoji when you are afraid of getting a sore throat, drinking Red Bull when you are tired and sleepy, and drinking Markli pancakes "after 8 o'clock", etc., all of these are shaping the scene and framing the time. From the perspective of consumers' purchasing purpose, there are only two purposes: one is personal use, and the other is giving as gifts. If you only accept Melatonin as a gift, it is a successful positioning. From the perspective of consumer lifestyle positioning, such as consumer lifestyle, attitude, psychological characteristics and values, such as Li Ning's "Just do it".

3. Competitive positioning strategy

Competitive positioning strategy refers to the use of competitors' marketing communication strategies as a reference to propose targeted positioning methods for the brand.

First or first positioning: Find a market gap where there is no competitor (a blank mind of the consumer), and quickly occupy this gap to become the brand leader in that market segment. Founded in 1996, Fotile Group has been focusing on the high-end kitchen appliance field for 20 years, adhering to the strategic positioning of "professional, high-end and responsible". Fotile saw the gap of high-end positioning in the market and seized the opportunity in advance.

Associative or analogous positioning: that is, the company strives to form a relationship between its own brand of goods and competing brands that have considerable influence in the market, and uses the market influence of competing brands to make its own brand of goods gain market recognition. Mengniu Company is a beneficiary of analogous positioning. When it first launched its market, it came up with advertising slogans such as "Strive for honor for the nation, learn from Yili", "Strive to become the second brand of Inner Mongolia dairy industry", "Yili Group and Mengniu Dairy rise from the thousands of miles of grassland - we cheer for Inner Mongolia" and printed these slogans on the product packaging. These advertisements seem to be a compliment to Yili, and at the same time put Mengniu and Yili on par with each other, leaving a deep impression on consumers.

Offensive or defensive positioning: Positioning methods adopted to encroach on the market share of other brands or to prevent other brands from attacking. For example, the love-hate relationship between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, and the come-and-go relationship between Mercedes-Benz and BMW, all adopt this positioning.

4. Brand identity and positioning strategy

Brand identification means that positioning can be done from the perspectives of personality identification, cultural identification, relationship identification, etc.

Personality identification: Companies can use the personality characteristics of a brand as a positioning point for the brand. For example, the brand personality of Marlboro is “bravery, adventure, freedom” etc.

Cultural identification: the brand’s own unique historical culture, or the geographical culture of the brand’s birthplace. For example, as long as a perfume company positions its brand based on French cultural characteristics and repeatedly emphasizes that the brand is truly from France, the romantic capital, it will be recognized by consumers.

Relationship identification: The intersection between the brand and the consumer is another way to find the brand positioning point. Is the brand's attitude towards consumers friendly, caring, and considerate, or cold and distant? Haier positions its brand as "sincere, friendly, and caring."

5. What does brand repositioning mean?

After brand positioning, there is actually another step called brand re-positioning. What does it mean? First, after the market gradually matures, if the company cannot update or conceive a new positioning in time, it will get into trouble; second, when the company implements a continuous expansion and brand diversification development strategy, consumers' impression of brand products will become increasingly vague. Brand repositioning also requires timing:

1. Brand image aging

That is, the value orientation of the brand image and the appeal points of the advertisement can no longer arouse the recognition and interest of the target consumers. When McDonald's faced the problem of "brand aging", it created a new brand, formulated new marketing strategies and came up with a new brand positioning - "I just like it".

2. Changes in the market environment

Sudden changes in the economic environment, changes in market policies, and potential unfavorable factors in brand products themselves may interfere with the original positioning of the brand to varying degrees, and even cause unpredictable damage. A typical example is Black Toothpaste, which is considering changing its positioning.

3. The original brand positioning was wrong

In the TV series "You and My Glamorous Time", there was a case of brand repositioning. The heroine Lin Qian, played by Zhao Liying, over-considered her own feelings and ignored consumers, which led to positioning errors, so she decided to reposition herself. When brand positioning is incorrect, repositioning the brand is likely to significantly improve the brand's market performance.

4. Consumers’ product demand concepts have changed

If consumers' interest in product demand shifts, then the interest points of the original brand positioning will most likely not be able to satisfy consumers' interests and desires. For example, consumers focus on affordability at first, and then on experience, which will form different positioning.

For example, at the beginning, IKEA entered the Chinese market with an image of high-end fashion. However, with the gradual opening and development of the Chinese home furnishing market, consumers are quietly changing. IKEA did not insist on its high-end positioning, but instead targeted those salaried families with an average monthly income of more than 3,350 yuan and repositioned its target customers.

5. Adjustment of enterprise development strategy

A company's internal resources and external environment are typical dynamic variables that will be adjusted at any time, so the brand positioning must naturally be adjusted as well.

VI. Conclusion

Brand positioning happens around us all the time. When you move towards a brand, you have become the person in the positioning. Brand positioning is like a lighthouse, illuminating those who want to get close to it.

Author: Flowery Little Master

Source: Huahua Xiaomengzhu

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